The Art Of Music
by Tekalali
Summary: Sora is a student. An art student. And like all art students he develops an unhealthy obsession, but will this heaven sent musician be Sora's artistic lifeline as his final college year comes to an end? There's only one way to find out.
1. Chapter 1

Greetings one and all!

I've been gone for a very _very_ long time but I want to make amends. This has actually been on my deviantART (because I upload a lot more onto there) for a little while and now I'm transferring my stuff over to here (because Cydney told me to.)

This is actually a story for Cydney, because she's awesome. So, here goes!

**Disclaimer: I own a couple of the CDs mentioned but that's about it... the characters belong to Square Enix and the music belongs to the mentioned bands. I have a few figures though, and plushies... and all the games. My obsession is healthy I tell you!**

* * *

It was a mess. If he didn't know any better the blond standing in the doorway would have thought the place had been ransacked by burglars looking for some kind of valuables. Of course the most they'd find was a battered skateboard –which had been put through years of torture since its owner was 7- and a DSi hidden somewhere in the dump of a room (but that was all beyond the point).

Luckily for _him_ this blond _did_ know better and understood that the cause of the forest of papers littering the floor (and he meant forest in a literal sense because the mountain of paper could only have such an equivalent) and upturned drawers of oil pastels and paints was still scurrying around the room digging through drawers like a schizophrenic mole on crack.

It was –of course- our blond observer's twin brother, frantic, and panicking, and oblivious to everything around himself until the blond cleared his throat over the quietly playing Two Door Cinema Club CD in the background. The noise took the spiky haired brunet's attention with a start and after hitting his head off the desk draw above the one his face was currently buried in he turned frantic blue eyes to his brother –pain in his head forgotten- and stood up abruptly, shuffling over to his blond counterpart clad in paint splattered jeans and a rainbow tie-dye t-shirt and grabbed his brother's shoulders desperately.

"Roxas!" he said just as urgently, "have you seen my paintbrush?"

To Roxas the question was almost comical. He knew his brother wouldn't see the humour in it, but seeing the brunet close to hysterics, paint and 2B pencil smudged across his face with dishevelled hair and a sliver of silver painted wood sticking out through one particular spike of hair behind his ear made Roxas want to double over in jovial fits of amused laughter. But his brother wouldn't see the humour in it _at all_ and would likely pummel the blonde's face in for laughing. So –keeping his amusement to himself- Roxas plucked the silver paintbrush from its spiky, chocolate brown perch with an "um, Sora," and held the stick up in his brother's peripheral vision where Sora could have sworn the brush was cackling at him.

The brunet glared at the paintbrush for a few seconds before he let out a long breath –of both annoyance and relief- and snatched the brush from Roxas' hand with only a look as if his brother was his saviour and a roll of his eyes at his own stupidity before returning to the easel set up slap bang in the middle of the twin's shared space.

All Roxas could do was roll his own eyes at his frantic brother as the next track from the CD player faded in and the blond closed the bedroom door to meander over to his bed, flopping down on the mattress to study his brother, tongue poised on his lip in concentration while his head lolled from side to side to see his painting from every angle, as if it might suddenly materialise into a 3D flower in the middle of the room and present itself in all its finished glory. To Sora's disappointment it did no such thing and he frowned at it for the betrayal of hope, returning to rendering the background in frustration while his brother relaxed on the bed. _'Lucky him'._

As Roxas watched Sora's eyebrows continue to descend further and further over his eyes the blond sighed. Sora had been in this room for two weeks now pondering over painting after painting –which were all exceptionally good but never quite good enough for the brunet.

The end of his final college year was drawing closer by the minute but the more Sora painted the further he seemed to come from the result he actually wanted. His final piece would be exhibited in the college's gallery space along with the rest of his class and Sora had set himself the goal of nothing less than a personal masterpiece for said show piece. However his vision was going nowhere –much to the brunet's despair- and Roxas noticed that neither was his social life, something which had been happily active until just a few weeks ago, so the blond decided it was time to… intervene. After all, Roxas' own life was suffering under the weight of Sora's artistic pessimism and he couldn't stand to see his brother like this anymore.

"Sora," the blond started, receiving a grunt of a question from the brunet who was currently squeezing a tube of blue paint onto his pallet with his teeth. "You know you've been up here for two weeks right?" The blond twin questioned, stating the obvious only because Sora probably hadn't realised it yet.

Roxas received another grunt similar in sound to a replying 'so?' as a glob of yellow paint fell onto the pallet beside the blue and the blond sighed at his brother's lack of interest in the information.

"_So,"_ Roxas continued, "don't you think it's about time you went out and _socialised_ with _other people?_ Most of our friends have asked me if you're dead you've been in here so long."

Sora rolled his eyes at the extravagant excuse and Roxas frowned at him because he was actually telling the truth.

"You have to get out of this house," he stated matter-of-factly.

"No I don't," Sora finally replied after capping his tube and putting it on his easel. "I only have four weeks left to finish this project and I haven't even decided what to do for my final piece yet." The brunet was pouting now, willing his brain to unlock a secret doorway to the innermost depths of his mind and a glimpse of what his masterpiece should be for all of the effort he was putting into this. It wasn't going to happen. And Sora decided that if nothing else worked he was turning to religion.

"You can't just look for inspiration in the bedroom Sora, come outside for a change. Human contact will do you some good." The brunet still wasn't convinced and Roxas could tell, so he sighed at his brother.

"I don't have time Roxas," Sora grumbled, "you can't relate, English essays don't need this much work."

Sora was lucky Roxas was his brother and therefore didn't take any notice to the offence in that comment –because English essays do take a considerable amount of brain power, the likes of which Sora probably wouldn't comprehend- and instead just frowned at the brunet.

"Actually I have writer's block," Roxas stated curtly as he lifted himself from his bed having had enough of his brother's complaining. "That's why I'm going to Axel's open mic night tomorrow" he continued while making his way over to the bedroom door, "you should come too, maybe you'll find some inspiration," Roxas glanced back at his brother from the door but Sora was still ignoring him.

_'There's a spanner in the works you know,  
you gotta step up your game to make it to the top.  
So go!'_

With one final sigh the blond shut the door behind him and walked away from the room to leave Sora to contemplate the offer –which the brunet did. He didn't want to admit it but maybe Roxas was right, getting out might be the best thing for him.

_'But I have so much to do,'_ Sora told himself, he really didn't have enough time to be lying about in a bar listening to music.

_'But music's always been inspirational,'_ he then argued and sighed.

'Shut up conscience, you're not helping.' It was obviously going to be a long night and he'd already lost interest in the painting.

* * *

Having said his piece to his brother Roxas decided to retreat to the living room and more reasonable company -some which didn't think the world and its art were out to get them- but before he could get far his phone began to ring and he answered it to a familiar redhead. "Hey."

_"Did you convince him?"_ the redhead asked and Roxas could have laughed, he'd literally just stopped talking to Sora and here Axel was, calling straight after as if he'd known the blond had just spoken to his brother.

"It doesn't take a lot to convince Sora," he answered, distracting himself by drawing patterns in the dust on the hall table while he spoke. "As much as he'd like to think otherwise."

_"That's why you're the man Roxy, looks like studying all that English is paying off,"_ the blond could hear the smirk in Axel's voice and rolled his eyes.

"I'm not doing politics Axel, I just know Sora too well." Axel laughed.

_"Still too clever for your own good," _Axel replied making Roxas blush. _"Well I better go; I'll talk to you later."_

The blond debated asking the redhead to hang out but the idea of bothering his older brother was just too tempting. "Yeah, see you tomorrow," and the blond ended the call, continuing on his journey down the stairs and into the sitting room where he found his older brother lounging on the sofa flicking through music channels and creating some sort of deranged medley in the process. Roxas sighed; he'd said reasonable company, right? He must have been out of his mind.

With a grunt the blond dropped himself onto the chair beside the sofa and nabbed the remote out of his brother's hand -without the boy noticing until it was gone- and he frowned at the younger blond. "Don't you have friends you can bother?" the elder complained and Roxas shrugged in response.

"Get a job and you wouldn't be so bored," Roxas shot back with a smirk as the other male continued to scowl, opening his mouth to retaliate but Roxas interrupted him first. "Being a university student doesn't count as 'work', Cloud."

Said blonde's mouth shut with a click of teeth and Cloud then retaliated by snatching the remote back and continuing his medley as Roxas wondered why he'd even bothered gracing his brother with his presence if he was going to be so boring.

"What's Sora doing anyway? He's not still moping is he?" Cloud asked and Roxas nodded. Sora locking himself in his and his brother's room and painting random objects was the brunet's equivalent.

"He said he won't come to the show tomorrow but he will. The ideas in his head now and I think even he knows he needs to take a break." Roxas answered and Cloud gave a nod of acknowledgement.

With his own sigh of dejection at the unforgiving music channels Cloud switched the input and sent a cunning grin Roxas' way. "Mortal Kombat?" he asked, waving an Xbox controller at the younger blond who stopped contemplating visiting his redhead best friend (for the second time that day) and returned the older blonde's challenge, taking up the controller with zeal as the game started up.

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**A/N: I finished this story a month ago so there's no real waiting around. I'm just not going to post the chapters all at once because I'm cruel. D**

**Anyway I'll put the next one up in a couple of hours... for now I'm going to procrastinate or something.**

**Leave reviews and I'll give you cookies. 3**

**Kit out.~**


	2. Chapter 2

I should read this again shouldn't I? Should I read it? I don't remember what happens... Oh well.

**Dsclaimer: No characters, no awesome music, just shattered dreams and piles of fan fiction.**

* * *

He'd been staring at the blank canvas on its wooden perch for an hour now, his In Your Honour album almost finished in the CD player and all Sora could do was frown.

The space around him had become suffocating since his conversation with Roxas the previous day and now all the brunet could think about was taking some time out to relax. He had been vehemently refusing himself such a luxury since he woke up but once he'd started sketching stick men on his canvas he gave up on fighting and agreed to go with his brother to Axel's performance (Roxas had grinned and clapped him on the shoulder for seeing sense) but that didn't stop the brunet from fretting over his painting –or lack thereof- and his impending deadline/doom.

"Sora!" Roxas called up the stairs, startling the brunet out of his brooding, "come on or we'll be late!" He continued impatiently and Sora rolled his eyes, at least to _him_Axel could wait, but it was… different for Roxas.

"Alright, alright," Sora mumbled grumpily, giving his canvas one last look of betrayal before grabbing his sketchbook and rainbow, fingerless gloves and trudging downstairs to stare at his brother -who was fiddling with his hair in the mirror- and finally roll his eyes at the blond. "Is there a reason why we have to be there for the first performance?" Sora asked, slightly annoyed by Roxas' unnecessary rushing as Cloud joined them in the passage to smirk at his brothers while Roxas frowned at his twin and tugged on his blue converse.

"Because Axel _is_the first act," he explained and Sora frowned, not only was that mildly inconvenient because the twins were already running slightly late but Axel was usually the finishing act. Why was that different tonight? Then again, he'd never played this particular place before; perhaps they had other performers the brunet hadn't seen before.

"Are you waiting for Christmas or something?" Sora asked Cloud, giving his attention to the older male who hadn't said a word since he'd stood against the door frame.

The older blond shrugged, "nice to see you too little brother, it's not like it's been _over a week_," Cloud raised an eyebrow accusingly at the brunet who let out an exasperated sigh though he didn't deny it, not only had Sora sat in his room from morning till night he'd turned into a racoon when it came to eating, if their mother didn't take him something to eat he'd go to the kitchen late at night to rummage through leftovers or anything his mother had prepared for him with a little 'Sora' note stuck to the plate.

"Did you miss me?" Sora smirked and the elder scoffed.

"As if. Anyway, since you're running late –and even though nothing brightens my day like watching Roxas fuss over himself for that redhead boyfriend of his- I thought you might appreciate this loving gesture from your big brother," Cloud then proceeded to pass his car keys to Sora who caught them with expert reflexes. "You're driving because you're not love drunk, don't total my car or you're toast."

Sora nodded with a 'yeah, yeah,' as Roxas mumbled a 's'not my boyfriend,' somewhat dejectedly and they both left for the bar leaving Cloud with a wave.

It was stuffy and dimly lit inside the box of a pub, the sun was beginning to set outside with a warming glow in the early spring and Sora had all but forgotten what fresh air smelled like while confining himself to his room the past few weeks.

The newly rediscovered joy of the outdoors was short lived by the brunet however as he entered the warm and tightly packed bar. He wrinkled his nose at the smell of cheep booze and stale smoke –even though the smoking ban was in place and it was unlikely anyone had lit a cigarette in the place for at least a year now- and squinted around to take in the interior of this unknown 'The Three Wayfinders' pub.

It was pretty much like any other pub. The walls were scarcely decorated and an off beige colour –which had yellowed slightly from years of wear and smoke- only a few things like the owners licence and some alcohol related advertising posters adorned the off colour walls. The bar itself was made of strong timber wood with a marble top, and its inhabitants talked merrily as they sat on cushioned stools and slouched over their drinks.

Sora made sure to hold onto the back of his brother's shirt with his Technicolour gloved hand as they weaved through the mass of bodies and found an empty table a little away from the stage. The brunet then chose to close himself off from the off smell of smoke and heavy laughter by pulling his sketchbook open and scribbling his surroundings into it.

Roxas then proceeded to grimace at the action but Sora ignored him. The boy really couldn't go anywhere without his book and a pencil, could he? "Sora, you're here to watch a show not draw, this is supposed to be inspirational."

The brunet stopped scratching away at the paper to look up at his brother. "If you started pouring out some huge essay while you were sitting here I wouldn't complain, give it a rest," Sora complained to his brother who grunted in frustration but didn't get the chance to retaliate before an arm was making its way around his shoulder and Roxas gave the unknown arm and its owner his full attention –fully prepared to knock out the person who was invading his personal bubble but changed his mind when spiky red and neon green entered his peripherals and he relaxed into the welcomed contact from Axel.

"Glad you could make it," the redhead was beaming and Roxas blushed, ignoring the impending girlish tendencies he had around Axel to reply with some confidence and keep his dignity.

"Well I had to get the hermit out sooner or later," the blond replied, smiling back and nudging Sora as he spoke (knocking the boy's arm and making a large wobbly line across his sketch).

Axel finally turned his attention to the brunet he hadn't even noticed and smiled at Sora. "Oh good you're really not dead, we were starting to doubt Roxas was actually telling the truth and came to the conclusion that he might have just killed you himself."

The blond responded with a swift elbow to the ribs and Axel winced. "Ow! Jeez Rox I was only kidding," the redhead grumbled as he rubbed his abused chest and frowned.

"I told you he was still alive," the blond scolded, feeling no remorse for abusing his best friend.

"The more you said it the less convincing you sounded. I'm just pointing out the possibility." Roxas went to elbow the redhead again but his lanky frame swiftly dodged the blow and he ruffled the blonde's hair as he stood up. "Demyx is playing tonight so we're doing a duet. I'll see you two later."

Axel waved to the brothers as he walked away, Sora acknowledging his leave as the brunet sketched and the blond waved back.

"It's blinding how much you love him. If Axel hasn't noticed it himself I might eat my 4B pencil." Sora mumbled to Roxas as he continued drawing and the blond frowned at his twin. Were they really going to have this discussion _now?_

"Just because you're boring and don't have a love interest doesn't mean you can comment on who I like," Roxas snapped, folding his arms across his chest in annoyance. "Maybe if you left your easel and talked to people you'd find a boy you like," he continued to complain at Sora who frowned, laying his pencil flat and closing his book over.

"Will you stop with the 'get out more' speeches, it's really getting boring."

Roxas opened his mouth to retaliate but the arrival of a bored looking Zexion had the blond clamping his mouth shut with a click of teeth as the slate haired boy sent the twins a quiet "hey" and took a seat on the other side of Sora.

"So Demyx dragged you out too?" the brunet asked Zexion as the slate haired boy slid into his seat and Zexion nodded solemnly.

"Someone so air headed shouldn't have such persuasive skills," he complained with a frown.

"Or maybe he just knows you too well," Roxas smirked at his friend as the pub hushed and a sandy blond with a mullet-hawk walked on stage with a redhead and sat on their respective stools.

"Good evening everyone" the sandy blond greeted the crowd who all turned their attention to the beaming male. "Thanks for coming out, we hope you enjoy the show."

A few of the audience clapped (and one had the audacity to cheer) as both Axel and Demyx turned their attention to their guitars.

The pair were skilled enough to have written their own songs (what with them both being university music students) and though the crowd couldn't sing along with them the boys had the audience cheering by the time they were finished. "We have one last song before we go," Axel announced as the clapping died down and all eyes in the room faced the musicians. "It's just for fun but we know you all know it so sing along!"

More whistles and silence fell before Demyx began strumming Flogging Molly's IF I Ever Leave This World Alive and the bar erupted into song.

"Thank you everyone!" Demyx waved as he and Axel left the stage to claps and cheers to be replaced by one of the pub's bartenders.

"Next we have a girl band performing for us." Many of the audience wolf whistled and our trio rolled their eyes though the man at the microphone didn't seemed phased by the audience's reaction and continued on. "There will be a five minute interval while they set up," and with that the male disappeared back to a table full of glasses to continue his job.

"Hey guys," Demyx greeted with a wave as he and Axel approached the trio who returned the greeting. "What did you think?" The boy asked as he slid into the booth beside Zexion and gave the slate haired male his full attention.

By this point Sora was too engrossed in his scribbling to answer but he didn't really need to. The sandy blond had pretty much directed his question to Zexion and Roxas looked on with a hint of jealousy as Demyx rubbed his nose against his boyfriends and smiled softly.

"Anyone in there?" The blond was brought back from his sulking by Axel's hand waving in front of his face and Roxas blinked a few times before turning his attention to said redhead. "Demyx might not be listening but I am actually interested in what you thought."

Roxas raised an eyebrow at the male in disbelief. Axel cared about his opinion? "Well you certainly had the crowd going," Roxas deflected, he knew how much the redhead wanted to hear his praise but it was too much fun to avoid giving it to him.

"Yeah but I'm not bothered about them, I'm bothered about you." The blond blushed, perhaps Axel's words weren't meant in the way Roxas was thinking about them but they sounded caring to him and the heat on his face showed as much.

The blond swallowed thickly and smoothed his face into a small smile. "You were great," he finally answered –having been put through enough embarrassment by avoiding the question- and Axel beamed, ruffling Roxas' hair from where his arm was over the blonde's shoulder.

"Hi everyone!" A cheerful voice came from the microphone and the alcohol buzzed audience stopped talking to look at the short haired raven. "I'm Xion and we're Black and White, your band for tonight," as the cat calls and intoxicated words ensued the barman rang the bell on the wall once in warning that if they kept going there would be no more alcohol and the room silenced in favour of their liquor.

"This is Yuffie on drums and Naminé on bass," the girl said before removing her plectrum from the guitar neck and strumming away.

Sora had managed to pull his attention away from his sketchbook and towards the stage while the girls were playing but all he'd manage to do was frown. However his expression wasn't directed towards the girls but the brunet's twin and said blonde's best friend. Somehow Axel's arm had weaved around Roxas' shoulder but no further contact had been made, they each glanced at each other while the other wasn't looking and Sora watched as Roxas ever so slowly shuffled closer to the redhead but that was as far as this struggling relationship of theirs got. If you could call it a relationship, neither of them had confessed or anything but it was so obvious that they liked each other that Sora would chew his own leg off if it wasn't true.

Even though it was painful to watch the boys act so shy Sora couldn't help but feel a little jealous. At least they had each other and neither one was going anywhere; he didn't even have anyone to crush on. Not that it was important for the brunet to be in a relationship right now, he had his art to think of, but it would be nice to have a crush. If nothing else it would take his mind off this stupid exhibition piece.

"Will you stop thinking about your damn painting for one night and enjoy yourself?" Roxas' words snapped Sora out of his brooding with a jump and the brunet blanked his face. He wouldn't tell the blond what he was really thinking about, but maybe it was better that way.

"What are you, my psychic?" The brunet shot back with a huff and closed his book with a puff of air and shoved his pencil behind his ear so he could fold his arms angrily.

Roxas rolled his eyes but paid no attention to his brother. Sora really needed to loosen up and the blond was only trying to help.

"We have one final act," the male from earlier informed the audience. "Most of you know our regular so without further introduction, here he is." This time the crowd really did stir with enthusiasm as the bartender vacated the stage to be replaced by the third and final act, a boy who took Sora's full attention (including the part which was telling him he should be painting) and his mind all but turned to mush.

"Sora?" Roxas questioned the brunet as his eyes began to widen and his jaw slackened but Roxas' concern fell on deaf ears as Sora soaked in every inch of this unknown guitarist.

The boy had the most striking shoulder length silver hair Sora had ever seen (not that he saw a huge amount of silver haired people) which hung forward to partially hide his pristine face. Sora also noticed while this silverette walked onto the stage that he must have been about four inches taller than him. Not as tall as a particular spiky redhead but he'd still tower over the brunet.

His clothes were plain enough bar a marine coloured shark tooth necklace dangling around the boy's neck but none of this was what caused Sora to gawk so much. The reason for his mushy brain and slack jawed ogling was the boy's eyes. They were mesmerizing pools of turquoise and though they barely glanced over the audience Sora's heart skipped a bit.

He had to draw him.

The silver haired mystery boy didn't bother introducing himself and delved straight into his acoustic music. First was a rendition of Razor but Sora wasn't paying attention, he just remembered that he'd been listening to it that day. Next was a song he'd never heard of called Drive but he'd be sure to ask Roxas about it later (since he claimed to be such a music guru) and finally he played Upside Down before silently standing from his seat and exiting the stage to a round of claps and the bar-goers returned to their socialising and alcohol.

Axel was the first one to break the silence amongst the trio (Zexion and Demyx already talking between themselves) "his voice was pretty awesome," he admitted, Roxas nodded in agreement, the mystery boy had been surprisingly good and Sora would have agreed too if he wasn't still sketching, he'd barely even heard the redhead say anything he was so determined to get the face burned into his mind onto paper.

Axel gave the boy a sceptical look then directed it to Roxas where Sora's behaviour would be explained. The blond could only shake his head; it was typical of the brunet to be ignorant while drawing, "it's his bubble," was the only explanation Roxas could supply and after another curious glance at the scribbling brunet Axel shrugged.

"We should probably get going, I hear it gets pretty rowdy here after the performers leave," the redhead admitted and Roxas agreed to leave wholeheartedly –the last thing he wanted to do was get involved in a fight of any kind- so he tapped Sora, snapping the brunet out of his trance with a start and he blinked at his brother a few times in confusion.

"Come on, we're going home," Roxas explained, standing up with Axel before the redhead slung his arm back over the blonde's shoulder with a happy smile. Sora frowned at the sight out of jealousy but stood along with Demyx and Zexion.

"You'll have to thank Cloud for asking his friend to let us play," the redhead said as he guided Roxas through the crowd. "Though admittedly, he's a little scary."

The blond laughed, "yeah, Cloud said Leon thinks he's a bit of a hard arse, but he's really a nice guy." Axel wasn't sure if he believed that but he wasn't going to ask, the last thing he wanted was a black eye from asking Leon if he really liked fluffy bunnies.

Sora followed his brother and would-be-boyfriend without really paying attention to where he was going, just scanned the area as the group made their way through the crowd towards the door. His heart sank a little when he couldn't find the boy guitarist, but one last glance at the far corner of the bar as he left had his aqua eyes meeting with turquoise and his stomach gave a small jolt of excitement. The boy was staring right at him, and that's all Sora could think about as he clutched his sketchbook and smiled all the way home.

* * *

**A/N: Yep, say hello to Riku. And obviously I'm adding tidbits of AkuRoku in there because I'm a sucker for those two.**

**I don't know why Leon owns a bar.**

**Don't forget reviews if you want cookies!**

**Kit out.~**


	3. Chapter 3

And here comes the interesting part!

Ok so I'm a sucker and I'm posting two chapters at once.

**Disclaimer: I wish I was the genius behind this song, it's amazing. But I'm not. Nor am I the owner of these characters, which just makes me sad.**

I never liked Power Rangers.

* * *

It had become some sort of strange obsession. Roxas had never seen anything like it from his brother before and honestly… it was starting to creep him out. How long had it been? Two days. Two days since the gig and Sora had managed to draw the silver haired performer in every media from pencil to oil paints_ twice_.

Yeah, if nothing else the blond knew that _bordered _on obsession. Not only that but it also meant that Sora had locked himself in their shared room for said two days, becoming a recluse once again.

Roxas couldn't deal with this.

It was like when they were kids and Sora discovered The Power Rangers, he'd sweet talked their mother into buying him every piece of merchandise he found, the bedroom was a mess of red, green, pink, yellow and blue for years but this time their bedroom was covered in pictures of this mystery guitarists and the blond was starting to think he knew what this boy looked like better than he knew what Axel looked like -and that in itself worried Roxas.

"You know, when I asked you to that gig I didn't think you'd become a psycho painter." The blond complained as he lounged on his bed with a book over his face, another one of Sora's CDs playing in the background (Songs about Jane today), Sora ignored him. "Is it because I said something about you not having a love interest? Did I unleash some kind of monster? Because if I did I'm sorry."

A roll of aqua eyes to let the blond know he was listening but wouldn't be dignifying his brother with a reply made Roxas frown, so it was the silent treatment now, was it? Fine. "Axel has another gig tomorrow, you should come too, it's at the usual place," and with that Roxas stood from his bed and walked out of the room to find some sanity with his older brother.

Roxas found no sanity and retreated to his room again after half an hour of having his ass handed to him via a string of Fatalities and Cloud's smug grin. In this time Sora had managed to complete yet another charcoal sketch and was fawning over it like a lovesick puppy. The sight made Roxas grimace and the fact that it wasn't even 6 o'clock yet made his mood even worse. He stood at the doorframe silently as his brows pulled together into a heavy frown and he watched Sora. Finally the scene became so sickening that he sighed, flipped open his phone and called the only sane redhead he knew.

Sora heard the door close with a click and realised that his CD had stopped, the silence brought him back down to earth and he blinked a couple of times at his surroundings, taking in his room and the sheer mess he'd made of it with pictures of this boy.

Why was he painting this guy so much anyway? Sure Sora had been enamoured by his eyes but he hadn't even met the silver haired mystery boy. The brunet sighed, this was the most active he'd been in weeks with his painting but was it really that productive? Sure the boy had distracted him enough to get him out of his rut but he had an exhibition piece to think about and that thought in itself made Sora's stomach lurch with unease, he hadn't figured out what to paint for it yet.

The next night Sora found himself being dragged to 'the usual place' so aptly named 'the Student Bar' because… well, that's what it was. Situated within walking distance of Sora's soon to be university it was built for the soul purpose of 'helping students get that university experience', and as such it was often commandeered by said inexperienced students. Tonight was no different and like every other Thursday night it had been reserved for the performing music students.

Axel and Demyx were a regular duet which meant one thing… Sora had been dragged along with Roxas for his –recently lacking- dose of social activity.

He had his sketchbook in tow as usual –but looked nowhere near as out of place tonight as he had at the previous bar seeing as he wasn't the only attending art student- and sat down with Roxas in a –practically reserved- booth to wait for the performers.

Much like the previous gig Zexion joined the bickering brothers in relative silence and took his seat beside Sora, he tended to ignore the boys' arguments about relationships and social lives and other such drivel, he was also usually permitted the luxury of being left out of it, tonight however, that all changed when Sora slammed down his pencil, turned to Zexion with resolve burning like fire in his eyes and said "the guitarist was cute, right?" to which the brunette was met with a string of nonsensical gibberish. Zexion had never liked being put on the spot and that hadn't changed in the past 10 seconds since he'd arrived so he did what he always did and let his brain shut down. It was the only time Zexion didn't make sense and it was usually an odd experience for everyone involved –the last time it had happened was when Axel asked him if he wanted to date Demyx and thus their relationship began.

"Sora!" Roxas scolded his twin who twisted back to glare at the blond. "Don't drag Zexion into this, all I'm saying is you're taking this crush too far. You don't have to justify it, but do you really have to draw him _all of the time?_"

"I'm not_ dragging_Zexion into it, he's a photographer, I'm asking him from an artistic point of view," Sora snapped back, lifting his head defiantly as he turned away from his annoyance of a brother just as the main lights dimmed and the brunet opened up his sketchbook as if on cue, pushing the sleeves of his blue and yellow long sleeved top to his elbows and exposing the array of bangles on both of his wrists.

"Hey everyone, welcome to music Thursday," the announcer grinned and a few students littering the place cheered as the pink haired male on stage grinned. "Tonight we have four acts starting with our resident rockers, Thirty!"

"Four acts?" Sora wondered with a frown, there was usually a rotation of three acts a week because of the very small number of musicians in the first place. It was unusual for them to include an extra act.

"I wonder who the other one will be," Roxas agreed as the band of four walked onto the stage, Demyx waving enthusiastically from the microphone with a guitar in his hand as a blonde girl they all knew as Larxene walked to the drums and another equally blond male called Luxord picked up the bass guitar.

Sora's attention dwindle as the night progressed and he began to doodle in his sketchbook, he was ready to call it a night by the time the second group finished but as the trio of the band Destiny (Aqua, Ven and Terra) left the stage and Sora decided he might dose off behind his book Roxas grabbed his arm, stopping all of Sora's thoughts and actions to blink at his brother who was staring wide eyed at the stage. The brunet frowned, what was he looking at? It didn't take him long to look for himself and he joined his blond brother in his gawking.

"Good evening," the boy greeted the crowd into the microphone and cleared his throat. A few of the crowd whooped, most sat quietly and Sora continued to stare, his heart hammering in his chest. What was_ he_doing here?

"Um, I'm Riku. I hope you enjoy my performance," the silver haired boy said somewhat nervously before he readjusted the guitar on his knee and scanned the audience. His eyes settled on Sora who gripped his pencil, but the contact was gone before he could remember how to breathe and the performer dropped his head, the brunet would swear he saw the boy smile but it was likely his imagination because when he raised his head again Riku's face was blank.

Roxas sat back and smirked at his enamoured brother, sketchbook forgotten as he just sat silently and watched his crush. The blond himself had been quite surprised to see this 'Riku' at the Student Bar of all places but it gave him a chance to observe his brother and his mad obsession. Roxas wasn't disappointed either, Sora looked like a love sick puppy staring at the boy on stage.

"I was told I'm not supposed to do this," Riku admitted bashfully as he finished his third song. "But I'd like to do one cover, if you'll let me."

The crowd cheered their answer and the silver haired boy nodded. "Thank you, I'd like to play Incubus' Dig for someone in the audience." The crowd sat quietly as they waited and Riku began to pluck the strings of his guitar.

The introduction had Sora's heart beat racing and he watched as Riku closed his eyes to sing, his voice captivating the audience.

_"We all have a weakness,  
Some of ours are easy to identify,  
Look me in the eye,  
And ask for forgiveness,  
We'll make a pact to never speak that word again  
Yes, you are my friend."_

Before he knew it the bass kicked in and Riku turned to his left as he strummed to see Aqua smiling at him and plucking the chords to the tune. She knew the song well. The drums were next, the boy couldn't see who it was but he assumed it was the brunet, Terra if Aqua was on stage. Next was the piano and Riku knew the only keyboardist in the room was Ven.

_"If I turn into another!"_

As the chorus started and Riku sang with all his being the electric guitar kicked in and the boy looked over his shoulder at a very happy Demyx.

_"Dig me up from under what is covering  
The better part of me.  
Sing this song,  
Remind me that we'll always have each other  
When everything else is gone."_

As the song came to an end the crowd erupted with cheers and whistles. Riku said his thanks as the others moved off the stage and walked off to join them, a moment later Axel made his way on stage with a smile on his face but without his guitar.

"What's he doing?" Roxas wondered, a frown on his face as he watched the redhead.

"I apologise ladies and gentlemen but I can't top that," he announced to the audience who complained unhappily. "Sorry everyone, come back next week and I promise you I'll have a performance worthy of this stage." Axel bowed theatrically and made his way off stage as everyone buzzed and chatted, accepting the redhead's offer without complaint… well… almost everyone.

Roxas huffed until Axel arrived and once Sora had composed himself after the performance he rolled his eyes at his brother. Was he really going to sulk about Axel not playing? The brunet sighed and picked up his pencil again to sketch his brother's face to show him how stupid he looked when he sulks later.

"Stop it, you're giving me things to draw," Sora reprimanded sarcastically as he sketched and Roxas turned his annoyed gaze to his brother.

"Hey guys," Axel greeted before the blond could snap at his twin and he huffed again, folding his arms across his chest and brooded, a sight which had Axel baffled. "What's up Rox?" the redhead asked, confusion and worry evident on his face while he was oblivious to the fact that it was his fault Roxas was moody.

"He's depressed because you didn't perform," Sora answered for him without looking up from his paper otherwise Roxas would have replied with 'it's nothing' and Sora_ really_ didn't want to listen to the whole 'no tell me what's up' 'I'm fine' conversation that _always _played out when Roxas was brooding over Axel.

"Speaking of which I have someone I want you guys to meet," Axel continued and Sora looked up curiously before his eyes landed on Riku and he clutched his pencil so hard he almost snapped it. The boy quietly stood at the table with a nervous smile that made Sora's heart skip, he looked even more beautiful up close. "I told everyone I had the right to steal him away because he bested my performance," Axel laughed, swinging his arm over Riku's shoulder and Roxas huffed again.

"Oh come on Roxy, you can't be mad at me," the redhead whined with a pout and sat next to the boy to sweet talk him into being happy with him again.

"So Riku," Zexion spoke, breaking the awkward silence as the boy stood in front of the table and Sora lost all brain function. "Are you a new student at the university? We've never seen you perform here before."

"Oh, no I'm a first year I've just never been very confident with my performances," Riku admitted and glanced at Sora whose head was down and giving all his attention to his book.

"You'll have to excuse Sora, he has no understanding of social etiquette," Zexion justified and Sora's head shot up to glare at the usually nice slate haired boy. "If you'll excuse me I seemed to have lost my other half, you're welcome to sit with us Riku," Zexion continued as he stood from the booth and walked towards the backstage door.

Riku nodded and as Zexion walked away he slid into the vacated seat. Sora sent the boy a small smile and attempted to get back to his drawing but his hands were shaking so much that he could barely manage a straight line and for the sake of not embarrassing himself any further he didn't move his hand. "You're an art student?" Riku asked, breaking the silence and causing Sora to put down his pencil and nod.

"At college," he answered.

The silver haired boy nodded, "may I have a look?"

Sora glanced at his sketchbook, then back at Riku, then back at his book again and closed it, pulling it to his chest protectively with an apologetic look, "um, no," he replied awkwardly.

"Roxas why are you so mad at me?" Axel asked the blond, his tone desperate and Sora turned to look at the pair as Axel cupped the blonde's face so he was forced to look at him.

"Hey Riku, Sora, move up a little," both boy's attention was drawn to the new voice which belonged to a grinning Demyx followed by Zexion. With a nod they both did as they were asked and as soon as Sora began to shuffle his back collided with his brother's and the bickering behind him ceased.

The confused brunet turned his attention once again to Axel and Roxas but he snapped his head back just as quickly with a bright blush on his face and stared wide eyed at Demyx who had started snickering behind his hand and Zexion rubbed a hand across his face.

"What just happened?" Sora asked, completely bemused by what was going on behind him and how it had started.

"You just performed a miracle Sora," Zexion answered as Demyx continued to laugh and the brunet blushed, shuffling away from the pair in fear that Roxas might turn around and deck him for pushing the blond but when Sora turned around again Roxas and Axel were still lip locked and the brunet couldn't help but grin.

"Does that make me Jesus?" he asked with a beaming smile and Demyx couldn't take it anymore, bursting into fits of laughter and leaning on Zexion for support.

* * *

**A/N: If you haven't heard that song you so totally should!**

**I enjoy Jesus Sora. And I enjoy Axel even more for bringing Riku over!**

**Cookies for all of you wonderful people!**

**Kit out.~**


	4. Chapter 4

I fo recall saying I'd upload these chapters fast. But I havent been on this computer in like 6 days so that was a little impossible. I'll just upload a few now to make up for lost time.

**Disclaimer: Santa didn't bring me Axel for Christmas. I'll just try again next year! Characters all belong to Square Enix. There's no music in this one so I dont have to disclaim it. :D**

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The next morning Sora couldn't have possibly been any happier… ok so he could have been _a little_ happier, he'd performed a miracle but Roxas had still decked him for it, causing Sora's nose to bleed and ultimately cutting their night (and Sora's time with Riku) short, however he'd still woken up refreshed and with a smile on his face and for the first time in weeks he joined his family for breakfast –or at least the part of the family who hadn't left for work yet- humming to himself while he grabbed a bowl and the box of cereal from the kitchen cupboard.

Roxas and Cloud both silently watched their brother, the oldest blond with his spoon poised at the entrance of his open mouth as he watched the brunet in astonishment and the younger blond rolled his eyes and diverted his attention back to his phone.

Sora dropped himself into a chair with a cheery smile and 'good morning' making Cloud drop his spoon, stand from his chair and march over to the brunet then prod his brother's shoulder and cheek to check that he was real and then feel his forehead for signs that he was sick. "Roxas?" he asked with a dramatically worried tone.

"Oh he's real alright," the boy answered without looking up at the pair and Sora frowned, batting his older brother's hand away with a huff.

"That's not funny Cloud," he mumbled and the older boy sat back down in his seat.

"I haven't seen you in weeks I thought you might have built some kind of robot or something to fool us."

Roxas snorted at this knowing full well that Sora wasn't clever enough for something so elaborate. In return Sora just huffed after pouring milk onto his breakfast, "and you wonder why I don't sit with you," he complained and stuck his tongue out childishly at his oldest brother which made Cloud laugh and returned the comfortable atmosphere.

"Actually I think I'm more worried about Roxas now, he hasn't stopped playing with his phone since he sat down, did something happen? Did you give him your reclusive antisocial syndrome?"

Sora rolled his eyes as Roxas gave his older brother an offended look making Sora smirk while he ate and he swallowed before childishly singing a rendition of "Roxas and Axel sitting in a tree, k.i.s.s.i.n.g" then stopped and looked noncommittal again "though technically it was The Student Bar but I don't know what would rhyme with that," Sora shrugged and continued to grin evilly as he watched Roxas' expression turn from offended to horror stricken and Cloud smirked with an unrelenting amount of cunning.

"I_ finally_ get to have the 'big brother' talk to someone," Cloud teased and everyone was sure that if Roxas' eyes widened with anymore horror his eyeballs might fall out of his head.

"Don't you dare Cloud or _I swear_ I'll tell mum and dad why you _really_ went to Tifa's house at Easter."

Cloud glared at Roxas and Sora grinned at the heavy tension, glad to finally have the attention directed at someone else for a change but then the older blond looked at the brunet with sudden realisation, "is that why your nose was bleeding last night?" Sora nodded.

"He punched me because I accidently knocked him into Axel even though it was Demyx who told me to move."

"It was still because of _you_."

"What are you complaining about at least you have a boyfriend now!"

"Ha! Sora started Roxas' relationship," Cloud laughed as Roxas and his twin now glared at each other but Sora finally sighed, he didn't have time to bicker with Roxas.

"Forget this, I'm going shopping," he said and stood from his chair and placed his empty bowl in the sink.

"For what?" Cloud questioned and Sora wasn't sure he wanted to answer, it was a little embarrassing.

"I need more art supplies," he mumbled.

"Already? How have you used up that much stuff in three weeks?" Cloud asked in astonishment and Roxas scoffed, looking up from his phone which had taken his attention again.

"Haven't you _seen_ our bedroom? I'm sure if you had you'd understand why he needs stuff, and forget three weeks, he's used up most of it in the past three_ days_."

Cloud continued to look astonished as a bright blush adorned Sora's face and he walked towards the front door, calling "don't go into my bedroom Cloud!" before closing the door behind him.

Silence fell over the two remaining brothers and Roxas sighed, redirecting his attention again as Cloud smirked "there's no way I'm not checking this out."

********

Sora knew once it had been mentioned that it was pointless telling Cloud not to go into his room, the older blond would never listen but he could hope, then again he was used to the older blonde's pestering so it was nothing he couldn't live with, right now Sora just wanted to focus on getting his art supplies and getting home to paint and hopefully think about his final piece, he only had four weeks to complete it and that thought alone stressed him out.

The shopping complex wasn't far from his home and with the weather being so nice he decided to walk; he liked the outdoors even if he had kept himself cooped up in the house for a few weeks, he usually got his painting ideas from the scenery around him and the one off encounters he'd have while he walked and he never left the house without his sketchbook so he could sketch when he wanted to, today was no exception but he only had one page left in his current book so he hoped nothing terribly interesting would happen.

On his way there Sora finally pulled out his phone and –in the mood for some company- he text his best friend Kairi, he knew she'd be interested in hearing about Sora's encounter with Riku and she was always fun to be around while shopping. She replied saying she'd leave right away and meet him there and the brunet continued his stroll with a smile on his face.

Once at the complex he only had to wait a minute or two before Kairi waved frantically from beside her car and jogged over to the brunet to give him a long hug. "Sora!" She grinned and pulled away with a small smile on her face, "you've been gone for too long! What happened?"

Sora laughed, "have I got a story for you."

The shopping complex they walked into was pretty huge, it was four floors high and seemed to go on forever, barely a minute went by that the places' announcer didn't ask for a parent to retrieve a lost child, -Sora and Roxas had been in that position once, they hadn't meant to get lost, just run around a bit, but the security guard had found them and taken them to a desk, their mother hadn't been too impressed by their actions but she could never be mad for long.

First they stopped by the book shop for Kairi who had been '_dying_ to read the Hunger Games' and then tried to find the art supplies shop for Sora, but that would take a while so he decided to explain his encounters with Riku to Kairi starting with the open mic night.

"Well first Axel and Demyx performed, then a girl band, they called themselves Black and White I think-"

"No way!" Kairi suddenly announced, "my cousin Naminé's in that band," she giggled, "sorry, carry on."

Sora smiled, "then there was this guy," the awe in the brunet's voice made Kairi smile at her best friend, "his voice was amazing, and he had these turquoise eyes, it was like looking into the _sea_ Kai and this awesome long silver hair," Sora played with the beads on his multi-coloured necklace as he talked and stared into the distance, a grin on his face and Riku on his mind, the boy really had made an impact on the brunet and Kairi was happy to see Sora so love struck, it had been a while since Sora had looked so happy.

"But that's not the best part," Sora beamed after a moment of silence and Kairi encouraged him to tell her more but they'd arrived at the art shop and suddenly Sora's attention diverted to his supplies.

"So how's your final piece going?" the redhead asked as she followed Sora and looked at some of the supplies for herself.

Sora suddenly frowned, "it's not going anywhere," he admitted and retrieved a tube of green paint.

"Really? But we only have four weeks until the deadline."

Sora sighed, "don't remind me, I've been trying to force myself to paint something but-"

"But you've been too busy drawing this guy right?" Sora looked at Kairi in astonishment, he hadn't even mentioned drawing Riku yet and the girl giggled, "I know you Sora you always do that."

The brunet stuck out his bottom lip and huffed mumbling a "no I don't," before continuing down the shop with a grinning Kairi.

********

"Ok so tell me the best part," Kairi urged as they finally exited the shop and Sora rolled his eyes with a smile.

"Well I cooped myself up in my room and drew him for a couple of days," Sora admitted feeling more and more embarrassed about it as he spoke, saying it out loud seemed to make it all the more ridiculous. "Then Roxas told me that Axel had another gig at The Student Bar so I went with him. It was just a normal Thursday night except there were four acts instead of three -which I thought was pretty strange since they usually limit it to three- and I guess you already know where this is going," Kairi smiled but said nothing, "he was the third act, I couldn't believe it Kai, he goes to the university and he played this amazing song that Ven, Terra, Aqua and Demyx joined in on called Dig. Everyone cheered when it was over but then Roxas got all huffy because Axel decided he wouldn't perform, so Axel turned up at the table while I was sketching and I told him why Roxas was so upset and guess who he brought with him?" Sora began to get giddy and Kairi laughed.

"Mystery man?"

"Yes!" he beamed, "Riku, so Zexion left to find Demyx and told Riku to sit down, he asked to see my sketchbook but I said no, then Zexion came back with Demyx and we all had to move up a little to make space and I accidently pushed Roxas who ended up kissing Axel."

Once he was finished Sora smiled but it slowly turned into a grimace, "but then Roxas punched me and made my nose bleed so we had to leave."

"Wow, that_ does_ sound like an eventful night," Kairi smiled. "So what are you going to do about Riku?"

The brunet shrugged, he might not even see the boy again until he started university and even then the chance was slim, he really had no clue. "I'm sure it'll work out fine," the redhead encouraged and Sora smiled.

"Oh! You don't mind if we go to the music shop before we leave do you?"

"No that's fine, looking for anything in particular?"

Sora smiled, "Incubus."

********

By the time the pair had finished shopping it was pushing into late afternoon and Sora really needed to get home and think about his final piece, "I'll see you on Monday Sora," Kairi smiled as the brunet walked her to her car and she hugged him and placed a small kiss on his cheek.

"See you Kai," he replied and waved as Kairi drove away before setting off on his own journey home, his new and old sketchbooks both packed into his satchel as he carried the rest of his things in the bags he was given.

The walk home was mostly silent and there was a cooling summer breeze tickling Sora's face as he walked, he was so content that he barely noticed the things or people around him, but suddenly realised just how far into his daydream he'd been when he collided with another body and stumbled backwards, tearing one of his bags in the process and all of its contents spilled onto the floor which he quickly bent down to retrieve, "I'm so sorry, are you alright?" the stranger asked frantically and Sora nodded and began to reply with an 'oh yeah I'm fine' but most of the words stuck in his throat when he looked at the stranger and found Riku scurrying after Sora's supplies with him.

When he didn't receive a full response Riku looked up and handed over the fallen paint tubes, "oh hey," he said as realisation struck him and he recognised Sora, "Sora, right?"

The mention of his name shook the brunet out of his gawking and he nodded, "yeah," he replied and took the tubes from Riku to put into his other intact bag while trying to remember how to breathe.

Once all his things were packed away he stood up with the silver haired boy who sent him an apologetic smile, "sorry about crashing into you like that I was in a world of my own," he admitted and Sora shook his head.

"Likewise, I should have been looking."

The atmosphere suddenly felt heavy as silence fell and Sora looked for something,_ anything_ to get rid of the awkwardness, "oh yeah, is your nose ok?" Riku suddenly asked and for a moment the brunet didn't know what he was talking about until he remembered the events of the previous night and blushed.

"Oh that," he laughed, "yeah, I'm pretty used to Roxas punching me in the face by now."

Riku laughed and Sora's heart skipped a beat, it was as melodic as his singing voice. "Well I'm glad you're not hurt it looked like he didn't hold back."

"I'm sure he didn't, sometimes I wish it was true that twins could feel each other's pain so he'd know just how hard he punches." Riku laughed again making Sora smile, he wanted to make the boy laugh all the time just to hear the beautiful sound. When silence fell again the brunet looked down at the book in Riku's hand and recognised it immediately, "you like Nicholas Sparks?" he asked and Riku turned the book over in his hand.

"Yeah, that and I need to read it for a lecture on Monday," he laughed.

"The Notebook's one of my favourites," Sora replied and smiled, "I love to paint. Most of the time I have all these thoughts bouncing around in my head… but with a brush in my hand, the world just gets kinda quiet" the brunet quoted making Riku laugh again.

"Wow, maybe you should help me with my paper," Sora's heart hammered against his chest and he resisted the urge to beg Riku to let him but at that moment his phone rang and the brunet frowned as a picture of Roxas lit up his screen.

"Hello."

"_Cloud wants to know if you're coming home for dinner he's ordering Chinese food,_" Roxas' voice sounded thoroughly fed up and Sora could barely hear two male voices in the background which he assumed belonged to his brother and Axel.

"Yeah I'll be home." Sora replied, unable to keep the amusement out of his voice.

_"Ok, hurry up then or he'll order without you."_

"What's going on over there?"

Roxas sighed heavily, _"one word, Halo."_

Sora laughed and said goodbye as Roxas cancelled the call and the brunet returned his phone to his pocket before turning his attention back to Riku who was looking at him curiously. "Roxas," he explained, "apparently Axel and my older brother are playing Halo together; it's a recipe for disaster."

Riku smiled, "well I'll let you get back to what you were doing, it was nice to see you again Sora."

"Yeah, you too," the brunet replied and they both turned to walk away but Sora suddenly stopped, "Riku," he called but as the boy turned to face him the brunet changed his mind, he was going to ask the silver haired boy if he'd like to join him and the others for dinner but he suddenly remembered the state of his room and how Cloud would act and it became the most appalling idea Sora had ever thought of. But now he'd stopped the boy so he _had _to say something so he didn't look like such an idiot. "T-there's another gig next week at The Student Bar, will you be there?" Ok so now he sounded kind of desperate but he'd go with it.

In response Riku smiled, "yeah, definitely."

"Cool, I'll see you there then," Sora grinned and said goodbye again, at least now he had something to look forward to.

********

When he arrived home chaos had broken out, Sora found the trio of boys in the living room, Roxas lay upside down on a single chair with a book in his hand and a notepad on the arm of the chair as Cloud and Axel battled it out on Soul Calibur, shouting obscenities and praising each other as the fight progressed and the brunet had to laugh, so much for Cloud's 'big brother talk'.

The older blond looked up at Sora as he played, "finally, I'm starving," he said as the brunet sat in the only vacant chair opposite Roxas who gave him a bored and defeated look.

"Want to help me get the plates?" Sora asked and the blond expertly rolled off the chair and onto the floor to join his twin in the kitchen. "Nothing much has changed then?" The brunet smirked.

"Axel thinks Cloud will cut his head off if he goes near me when we're all in the same room, so no."

"I thought you were supposed to be happy."

"I am happy," Roxas said but it didn't sound too convincing, "I'm just not happy when Cloud's around." Sora laughed. "Did you get all of your stuff?"

"Yeah," Sora replied while he retrieved the plates from the cupboard, "I bumped into Riku on the way home too… literally," he added.

"Oh really? What happened, did you stand and gawk at him for the entire time?" Roxas teased and Sora scowled at him.

"We talked actually, he likes Nicholas Sparks_ and_ he remembered my name," the brunet beamed and Roxas rolled his eyes at him.

"Of course he remembered your name, idiot. He barely kept his eyes off you," the blonde's face split into a wide smirk and Sora blushed.

"Stop making stuff up," he scolded, "anyway he's going to be at the regular place next week too."

Roxas sighed, "I think I liked you better as a recluse," he mumbled and dodged the fork that Sora threw at him and laughed as he returned to the living room.

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**A/N: I think the thing I enjoy most about this fic is Sora and Roxas' brotherly love. **

**I hope everyone had a great Christmas!**

**Santa cookies for all!**

**Kit out.~**


	5. Chapter 5

I don't know if I mentioned this earlier but this fic is 8 chapters long.

So there's 3 more to go!

**Disclaimer: I think Demyx would be easy to lure out with my puppy. Square owns the characters and the Foo Fighters own the lyrics. I just own the story.**

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Sora spent the next two days cleaning his room; Roxas had finally declared that it was unliveable and that since it was Sora's mess he'd have to clean it up, so he did. Sora was so astounded by the sheer amount of Riku related drawings he had that he cleared a draw in his desk to dedicate to the boy's pictures, all the while playing Dig on his CD player for the full two days. Once the place was cleared and clean the brunet placed his easel next to his bed and lay on his bed to rest only to find out that Roxas was now inviting Axel to sit in their shared room. The atmosphere soon became so awkward that the brunet excused himself to sit with Cloud for the night until the redhead was gone and then confronted Roxas.

Axel had been a frequent visitor to Roxas and Sora's bedroom, but that had been before a relationship had blossomed when neither Axel nor Roxas could get all lovey dovey, now they had that opportunity Sora had to set some boundaries, their room had always been his space to paint and he wasn't going to change that for Roxas' 'alone time', the idea made Sora shudder and he cornered Roxas in the kitchen.

"We need to talk," he began and took a seat at the kitchen table, resting his arms on the table top and Roxas suddenly thought of his father who often did the same thing when he was going to have a serious conversation with the boys.

"Stop it, you look like dad," the blond complained and sat at the opposite end of the table while his cup of tea steamed away beside him and one of his many note pads lay flat in front of him.

Sora leaned back in his chair and stared at his brother, "we need to have a rota or something, that bedroom's my painting space and I can't paint when you and Axel are all wrapped up in each other up there, it's creepy."

"I agree, I don't want you there when I'm with Axel either."

"I assume you'll be spending time at Axel's house too so as long as you text me and let me know when you're both coming over I can remove myself from the room, but if I'm doing that for you, you have to do something for me."

"Like what?" Roxas asked, raising an eyebrow at his twin.

"Don't hog the room all day."

Roxas sighed, switching from place to place would be a hassle but it couldn't be helped, Sora's hissy fits were enough to make anyone give him what he wants, "alright."

Sora nodded and stood from his chair, "who's driving tomorrow?"

Roxas shrugged, "me I guess, I need to talk to Hayner in the morning so I'll come to class with you."

"Ok, I'm going to bed then, make sure Axel doesn't start throwing stones at the window and quoting Romeo and Juliet or something, that'd be totally lame," Sora smirked and made his way up to his room to gather everything he'd need for class tomorrow, it was finally the first day back after Easter and honestly Sora was dreading it, he didn't want to hear Saïx lecture him about deadlines and making an effort and whatever else the failed artist could criticize him for.

If he just had an_ idea_ of what he wanted to showcase that would be perfect, but such things were few and far between.

********

The next morning Sora walked as slowly as was physically possible to his class, something which agitated his twin brother to no end, "will you hurry up? In case you've forgotten I've got to trek over to the other side of the college for _my_ lecture."

"Just go on without me," Sora mumbled dejectedly and Roxas rolled his eyes at his brother.

"It's three hours Sora, three hours and then nothing until tomorrow," the brunet wished Roxas hadn't reminded him, three whole hours with Saïx was his idea of hell right now.

"Why do you need to see Hayner again?" Sora changed the subject to stop himself from sliding into depression.

"It's Axel's birthday in two weeks and I need him to paint a guitar for me."

After Sora's initial profanity about forgetting Axel's birthday he slowly looked at his brother with a heavy frown on his face. "You could have just asked me," he huffed making Roxas smirk.

"I don't think so, you'd probably draw Riku on it and he's much better at air brushing than you." Sora stared at the blond in full blown hurt but Roxas only smirked and let himself into the classroom, Saïx looked up at the blond but paid him no mind and Roxas made his way over to his dead looking friend who had his head in his arms on his desk. Without the other boy knowing Roxas dug his fingers into both sides of Hayner's abdomen making the wispy blond haired boy squeal in shock. Roxas doubled over with laughter.

"Fucking asshole," Hayner grumbled indignantly and smacked the other blond upside the head. Sora watched the scene and shook his head, using his time before class to find materials and write down some ideas –if such things existed in the brunet's head.

"I couldn't help myself," Roxas breathed through his laugher making Hayner grimace. "Ok, ok, I'm sorry; I have a favour to ask you."

"After that I don't think I wanna help you out," Hayner huffed and Roxas grinned, whispering something into the boy's ear which perked up his interest immediately. "Alright, what do you want?"

"I need you to paint a guitar for me for Axel's birthday," he informed the other blond who shrugged.

"Got any particular design ideas?"

Roxas handed him a slip of paper, "just not that badly drawn."

Hayner laughed, "alright, deal."

"Thanks man, I have to get to class, I'll catch up with you later."

As Roxas began to walk away Hayner smirked, catching his friend's attention with his next words, "Demyx told me what happened at The Student Bar last week," he added very nonchalantly and Roxas froze as Sora snickered, "nice going Sora," Hayner smirked as the brunet tried his hardest to mask his amusement -though he still accepted the high five Hayner offered him with zeal.

"I'm Jesus," he explained as himself and Hayner burst into fits of laugher.

"You're both dick heads," Roxas mumbled and left the room without another word, a minute later Kairi walked through the door and took a seat next to Sora, he and Hayner still laughing (read: practically giggling) at what had just happened.

"Hey," the girl greeted and Sora's eyes shone with joy that the girl was here.

"I have stuff to tell you," he told the girl who looked at him with interest, Sora glanced over at Hayner who'd already shoved his headphones into his ears to block out any other sound as the first bell rang.

"I want to have a one-on-one session with everyone so be prepared when I call your name," Saïx informed his class and Sora's stomach dropped; this was going to be a nightmare.

********

For once Sora was grateful to his wispy blond friend, his short temper and his rival. Saïx had spoken to four of his fifteen students before the classroom door suddenly swung open with a bang and a boy fuelled with rage, hatred and topped with a beanie hat strolled straight over to Hayner and decked him in the face. After that the shorter of the two fighting boys (being Hayner) launched himself onto his rival (Seifer) and a full scale struggle played out on the floor of the classroom.

In the corner of the room Saïx pinched the bridge of his nose and stood up with rage bubbling behind his eyes, walked over to the two students and pulled them apart with ease, "what the fuck was that for?!" Hayner yelled at Seifer who glared at him.

"Principal's office. Both of you. _Now_." And with that Saïx dragged the two blonde's out of the room. The remaining students looked at each other in silent bemusement until everyone settled into their quiet chatter again and Sora breathed out a sigh of relief.

"I know I should be worried about Hayner right now, but he may have just saved me from a one-on-one with Saïx so I'm kind of not sorry that just happened."

Kairi gave her friend a sympathetic look, "you still don't know what you're going to draw?" she asked and the boy shook his head dejectedly. "You'll figure it out Sora, you always do."

Sora could only hope that she was right.

"So what were you going to tell me?" Kairi asked, changing the subject in the hope that it'd brighten Sora's mood and it certainly did, he suddenly grinned happily.

"Well you know how we went shopping yesterday?" Kairi nodded, "I bumped into Riku on the way home," he beamed, "literally."

Kairi giggled "well at least something good came from you denying my offer of a lift home. What happened?"

"Nothing much, we talked. Actually we both accidentally bumped into each other and my bag split so he helped me pick all of the stuff up. He likes Nicholas Sparks _and_ he remembered my name Kai," Sora started bouncing in his seat and Kairi smiled.

"Hand over the sketchbook you bought yesterday," she demanded with a kind but cunning grin and Sora blushed and stopped bouncing.

"No," he replied quietly, but the look the redhead gave him had Sora presenting the book with a sigh and he handed it over.

Kairi flicked through the book, the first dozen pages already full with sketches of who she assumed was Riku. "Oh Sora, you never change," she laughed and the brunet blushed, taking the book back and shoving it back into his bag.

********

"So how did the one-on-one go with Saïx?" Roxas asked as they drove home after class and Sora laughed.

"Here's a story for you. Seifer barged into class and smacked Hayner in a face without a word," if it were anyone else they would have been shocked, but Roxas tutted and rolled his eyes as if he should have known it would have happened, "a full on brawl started and Saïx spent about an hour in the principal's office with them so he only spoke to like four people."

"Of course you'd get out of it," Roxas mumbled and Sora grinned.

"I hope Hayner doesn't get suspended though."

The blond scoffed, "as much as everyone thinks otherwise Xemnas is far too soft to suspend them, besides I thought Hayner spent the entire class with his headphones in and emanating a 'fuck off and die' aura?"

"Well yeah but watching him fight with Seifer like that just saves me from Saïx, I never want to lose that," Sora admitted and Roxas laughed.

"By the way, what are you doing tonight?" Roxas asked and his brother shrugged.

"Probably painting, why?" Sora looked at Roxas suspiciously.

"Just wondering," he replied noncommittally.

"Axel's coming over huh?" The blond didn't reply and Sora sighed. "Alright fine you can have the room but I swear Roxas if there's any funny business I'll tell mum and dad."

Roxas almost swerved onto the wrong side of the road with his twin's declaration but managed to somewhat compose himself, "we're not going to do anything," the blond hissed and Sora smirked at having flustered his brother.

"What about Cloud?"

Roxas rolled his eyes at the mention of their older brother, "Tifa and _her cousin_ are visiting their grandma." Sora oh'd and laughed, Tifa's cousin was a sensitive subject with Cloud (also perfect blackmail) his younger brothers had found out some interesting information about their brother and Tifa's cousin from Tifa which almost sent the twins into psychological shock. They'd taunted him for weeks subsequent to the event then decided they'd just use it as blackmail and e-mail Tifa every time she and her cousin visited.

"What do you think mum and dad would say if they knew?" Sora giggled.

"Well they've never been bothered about us." Roxas shrugged "I think he's just paranoid." Sora nodded.

********

It didn't take long for Axel to appear at the front door with a grin on his face after the twins returned home, "Cloud's still here," Roxas whispered making Axel's face drop dramatically, "don't worry he'll be gone soon, he has plans with Tifa," the blond said and ushered the redhead inside, the pair making their way into the living room to sit with Sora and Cloud who were both staring at the screen watching How To Train Your Dragon.

"Who are you babysitting?" Axel smirked and Cloud flipped him off.

"Don't knock it Axel, I can kick you out remember," Cloud replied as the redhead and Roxas sat down, Roxas on the chair opposite his twin and Axel on the floor in front of the chair (Cloud having lay vertically on the couch once he heard the knock on the door).

Sora looked over at his brother and boyfriend, a swell of jealousy suddenly overcoming him, even though the pair weren't exactly snuggled up with each other they still looked so happy in each other's presence and the brunet couldn't help but be jealous, he wished he had that and it was all Roxas' fault that he had such a wish.

After a silent five minutes a phone sounded and Cloud shuffled to remove the device from his pocket, his face staying blank as he read the text, pocketed the phone again and got up off the couch, "well I'm heading out to see Tifa."

Roxas scoffed, "yeah _Tifa's_ who you're going to see," he mocked and Cloud sent him a glare.

"Sora, you're in charge," he told the brunet who rolled his eyes, as if Roxas would listen to _anything_ his twin said.

"Yeah yeah," he said and Cloud left, once the door clicked shut Roxas and Axel both relocated to the couch, the blond cuddling into his boyfriend to watch the rest of the film. The sight formed a tight knot in Sora's stomach and he frowned.

"What's wrong with you?" Roxas asked, noticing the brunet's look and Sora sighed, he didn't want to have this conversation, nor did he want to sit with his love struck brother and redhead boyfriend so Sora stood from his seat and sighed.

"I'm going out, it's creepy being in the same room as you two love birds," he replied and walked towards the hall where he slipped on his shoes and picked up his multi coloured scarf and satchel.

"Cloud will murder you for leaving us you know," Roxas called, amusement evident in his voice.

"I'll deal with it," Sora called back, he really wasn't in the mood to joke right now and without another word he walked out of the house with a cloud of depression hovering over him.

********

Sora's depressive wander took him to the nearby park he used to visit almost every day when he wasn't confining himself to his bedroom and painting, it was the place he got a lot of his inspiration though today he wasn't really in the mood to draw.

Once there he took a seat on one of the many benches not far from a small pond and pulled out his sketchbook, with his chin resting on one hand he began scribbling random things like the flowers or ducks or trees, however it only took half an hour for boredom to settle over him in addition to his depression and he sighed, packed away his things -after obsessively drawing Riku's eyes over the remainder of the page- and stood up, walking deeper into the park and towards the bandstand in the centre of the large area.

The evening was quiet and warm and Sora enjoyed being alone for once, he'd been so used to the stress of his project and the incessant rambling of his twin brother that he'd forgotten what calm and quiet felt like. Sora stopped for a moment, closed his eyes and breathed in the fresh late spring air, savouring it until the sound of a guitar invaded his ears and he wandered over to the bandstand curiously, finding a sight he did not expect to see though it was in no way unpleasant, in fact if he didn't have such a strong urge to walk over to the boy playing guitar on the bandstand and talk to him Sora probably would have sat down and drawn him, however the former urge pulled him forward and up the few small steps until he was standing in front of the seated silver haired boy with a wide smile.

"Hey," he greeted and Riku looked up at the brunet, returning a gentle smile.

"Hey," Riku replied, "didn't expect to see you here," he continued to smile.

"Likewise, do you come here often?" well if that didn't sound like a cheesy pick up line Sora didn't know what would and he could have kicked himself for asking, Riku seemed to think something similar because he chuckled.

"For the past few weeks I have, it's a nice quiet place to practise. What about you?"

Sora nodded, "I spend a lot of time here, it's only a short walk from my house and it's a nice place to get away from my brothers." Just the mention of said brothers made Sora think of Roxas and frown, remembering all over again why he'd left the house in the first place.

"Something wrong?" the silver haired boy asked, noticing Sora's sudden frown and the brunet shook his head, returning his general cheerful demeanour.

"Not really, I just remembered that Roxas and Axel are being all lovey dovey at home and that's why I came here," he explained and Riku gave him a sympathetic look.

"Well if you're not busy, why don't you sit with me for a while?"

The offer made Sora's heart suddenly begin to race and he blushed, "I don't want to intrude on your practice," he said shyly but Riku shook his head.

"Company would be nice," he cut Sora off making the brunet blush more but he sat down beside the silveret and took a very unnecessary interest in the concrete beneath his feet, Riku smiled and began slowly strumming his guitar without a word as Sora's heart hammered in his chest and he retrieved his book and pencil in an attempt to stop himself fidgeting. He drew the bars across from him on the other side of the bandstand and a few of the trees while Riku played and it didn't take him long to relax a little and actually enjoy the peace and quiet and the silveret's presence, it was something he could definitely get used to. "You're really talented," Riku finally commented, breaking the silence and Sora swallowed nervously, his stomach fluttering with butterflies from the compliment.

"Not really," the brunet mumbled in denial, he never thought his drawings were anything special even if others said otherwise. "You're a great musician, I wanted to say so the other night but you know, Roxas punched me," there was some dejection in Sora's words and Riku chuckled again.

"Thank you, it means a lot." They both looked at each other in silence, Sora's blush ever present on his cheeks as early evening light cast a warm glow over Riku's face and the brunet wondered if the boy could look any more beautiful. "So, what kind of music do you like?" Riku asked and Sora came crashing back down to earth and shrugged, looking away from the boy in case he forgot how to breathe staring into those eyes.

"A lot of stuff," he replied as Riku mindlessly strummed, "Two Doors Down, Maroon 5, Goo Goo Dolls, Foo Fighters," the brunet listed a few.

"I love Foo Fighters," Riku commented and began picking his guitar strings this time to make a song Sora knew all too well.

_"If you'd like to walk a while  
We could waste the day  
Follow me into the trees  
I will lead the way._

Bring some change up to the bridge  
Bring some alcohol  
There we'll make a final wish  
Just before the fall."

Sora's heart tightened and swelled behind his ribs, it was his favourite song, the one he'd played practically nonstop for almost a year and here Riku was playing and singing it so perfectly.

_"Promise I will be forever yours  
Promise not to say another word  
Never mind what's done is done  
Always was a lucky one."_

Riku looked at the brunet from where his head rested on the bars of the bandstand and if all of the blood in Sora's body hadn't already rushed to his face he'd probably blush more from the embarrassment of blushing so much.

But it would be just Sora's luck that the moment wouldn't last, instead his phone rang in his pocket, the vibration making him jump and he removed the device and answered the phone –somewhat dejectedly- to his twin brother. "Hello."

_"We're giving you the room, Cloud's back with his friends so we're heading out."_

"Gee thanks, that's exactly how I want to spend the rest of my night," Sora tried to keep the venom in his words to a minimum and settled for sounding highly sarcastic.

_"Alright, do what you want, I'll see you later."_

"Bye." After he cancelled the call Sora checked the time and sighed, maybe he _should_ get home and try some painting before bed, not that he particularly wanted to leave Riku, he enjoyed the boy's company too much. "I guess I should get going," the brunet admitted and stood up.

"Ok, well it was nice seeing you again Sora, I guess I'll see you Thursday unless I bump into you again," Riku smiled and Sora returned the look.

"Yeah, I'll see you soon, have a nice night," and he waved as he left, making a mental note to visit the park every day from now on.

* * *

**A/N: I enjoy those two bumping into each other like that. Hehe.**

**I ran out of cookies so I'm baking cupcakes. Reviews deserve sweet things!**

**Kit out.~**


	6. Chapter 6

I enjoy this chapter!

**Disclaimer: Too much music and none of it belongs to me. Nor do any of these characters.**

ALL of the homo.

* * *

When Sora returned he found –as Roxas had said- Cloud, Tifa and her cousin sitting in the living room playing Mario Kart and even though Sora was still in a bit of a bad mood he couldn't help but smile at the proximity of Cloud and his crush, the pair sitting shoulder to shoulder, nudging each other 'accidently' now and again while they played, though if it was at all accidental one of them would have moved by now. "Hey guys," the brunet greeted and the trio turned to face him, the two guests grinning and Cloud's face lighting up with a blush, Sora's expression turning amused and knowing.

"Hey Sora, it's been forever," Tifa smiled, the time spent apart had definitely worked wonders on Tifa, her hair was as jet black and long as ever and as much as Sora didn't believe it possible her 'assets' had definitely not wasted anytime growing. If Sora had been straight he was sure he would be attracted to her, Tifa was sweet and funny and Sora admired her greatly. Honestly it was a shame things had never worked out between her and Cloud, but of course that couldn't change now, especially since the girl's cousin had entered the picture. Her look was also cunning and Sora would have laughed if he could have.

"Yeah, not to mention all Cloud does is complain that he doesn't see_ you guys_ enough." He looked back over at his older brother who looked about ready to kill him and decided he'd caused enough damage for one night. "Well, I'll leave you guys alone, no one wants the loser little brother around," he joked, "oh and Zack," the raven sitting next to Cloud with his spiky hair and tanned, muscular physique gave Sora a curious look, "try not to kick Cloud's ass too much at this game, he always gets moody when he loses."

"Duly noted little dude," Zack grinned, his blue eyes –which could rival Sora and Roxas' in colour- forever full on mischief twinkled and Sora chuckled before leaving the trio alone feeling a little more cheerful.

********

The cheer Sora had experienced while talking to Cloud, Zack and Tifa could not last though, once the brunet walked into his bedroom he frowned again as thoughts of his college piece floated around his head and the idea of painting suddenly became unbearable, so he played his Incubus CD (one of the seven he'd bought) and flopped onto his bed thinking about Riku until he got up to search for his In Your Honour CD -which he found buried under all of those paintings of Riku- and put it into the player before lying down again with a sigh, he really did hate being unmotivated but right now he wanted nothing more than to sleep his problems away, so he changed and climbed into bed even though the sun was only just setting and lay there. Sleep came surprisingly quickly to the brunet, he hadn't realised just how exhausted he'd been and he slept until his alarm sounded the next morning, Roxas mumbling profanities at the beeping clock while Sora wondered how he'd slept so long.

********

Sora spent the next two days much the same as Monday though with a little less sleep and a little more painting. He'd manage to lie his way through his one-to-one with Saïx on Tuesday by claiming that his piece was at home and he had to coat it with gloss before he could bring it in to show his tutor. Saïx accepted the bad excuse but told Sora that he really needed to see it before it went on the wall, a photograph of it would suffice and he had until a few days before the show to give it to him, that alone took a little weight off Sora's shoulders and he spent a lot of Tuesday afternoon with Kairi at her place while she painted, he really wanted to see what she'd be submitting and he wasn't at all disappointed, her piece was of a large, dark city with the biggest, brightest heart shaped moon Sora had ever seen.

"Wow Kai that's amazing," Sora gawked at the image, the sky and moon had been filled and Kairi had moved on to the buildings, painting skyscrapers with neon signs and tiny windows of light.

"I saw it in my dreams, funny how something like that can stick with you," she said as she mixed paint.

The visit to Kairi's had cheered him up but he was still jealous of the girl for having such an amazing painting and he spent the rest of the night at home moping and sketching on his easel, listening to Owl City for a change.

Wednesday went by much the same, the brunet received a text from college in the morning claiming his lecture had been cancelled so he spent his day drawing in more detail; his spirits lifted a little as he thought about Thursday and the prospect of seeing Riku again and he even walked into the kitchen humming one of his songs, receiving some bemused looks from his brothers as the trio ate.

His good mood spurring on his optimism and Sora then decided to stroll down to the park –Roxas pointing out that the brunet only had to wait one more day to see Riku, he didn't want to seem like a stalker- but found it vacant of his crush so he drew ducks before returning home, his mood not as tainted as it would have been if Sora wouldn't see Riku the next day.

During the night Sora found himself feeling restless thanks to his excitement and chided himself often because of his childish giddiness, he really didn't need to act like this just because of Riku and he promised himself he'd play it cool tomorrow. Roxas on the other hand knew otherwise and scoffed when his twin mentioned it on their journey to college the next morning, but let it go without a word because saying 'I told you so' would be far too sweet when the time came and the blond didn't want to spoil his chances of getting to say it.

"Would you like to explain what happened the other day?" Sora asked his wispy blond haired friend as he sat down in class on Thursday afternoon, Hayner having finally returned –sporting a scabbing lip- and sighed at his friend.

"I honestly don't know, I asked him the same thing but the asshole wouldn't answer me." Sora frowned, but at least Hayner was ok (for the most part) and that was all that mattered.

By the time class ended Sora felt like he'd aged ten years, but it also meant he only had to wait three hours until the gig and that helped him get through the long and arduous lecture, Kairi had been absent which hadn't helped Sora take his mind off things, so he'd spent most of class testing Hayner's patience and seeing if his anger management classes had been working. So far the boy had kept himself from hitting the brunet but given another half hour neither of them thought that would have lasted.

"Roxas!" Hayner shouted as Sora ran to his blond brother with an amused grin on his face, "get your stupid brother out of here before I kill him!" He called angrily making Roxas smirk and Sora howl with laughter.

"See you on Monday Hayner!" the brunet called and pulled Roxas out of the building and towards the car.

"You shouldn't tease him like that; you know he has anger issues."

Sora smirked, "I know but it's fun."

Roxas rolled his eyes, "God forbid you ever do that when he has a craft knife or scissors near him," he mumbled but Sora ignored him.

"Hey Rox, is Axel dedicating any songs to you tonight?" The brunet asked as he skipped back to his brother.

"Hm? Oh yeah but he won't tell me what," Roxas replied. "Riku dedicating any to you?" he smirked and Sora rolled his eyes though the idea was very appealing. If only he would.

********

From the moment he got home to the moment Sora sat down at their booth at the bar he had not stopped fidgeting. Roxas was at his wits end and had tried everything he could think of to stop himself killing his twin brother, at the moment he'd resorted to closing his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose and controlling his breathing, but that would only work for so long, he just hoped Zexion or someone would show up to take his mind off his brother and luckily the blond didn't have to wait long before company arrived, his boyfriend bouncing over much like Demyx usually did.

"Hey," Axel beamed making Roxas smile.

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you," the blond admitted as the redhead reached their seats and placed a short kiss on Roxas' lips. "Sora's driving me crazy, is Riku here?"

Axel glanced over at the brunet who had retreated into his bubble and was sketching forcefully, his tongue sticking out from between his teeth and the redhead chuckled, "yeah he's backstage looking nervous."

"At least all this irritation hasn't been for nothing then, he'd get huffy if Riku wasn't here and huffy Sora-"

"Never shuts up, I know," Axel finished for him and smirked. "I gotta get back but I'll see you soon, ok?"

"Ok," Roxas agreed and Axel kissed him once more before leaving just as Zexion arrived with his blond counterpart who strolled over to the backstage door with a smile and a wave to his friends.

"Does he always do that?" Zexion asked as he peered into Sora's sketchbook –the brunet oblivious to the invasion of his space- and found the boy meticulously drawing Riku. The look he gave Roxas was worrisome.

"When we were ten he had the biggest crush on Elijah Wood. Imagine what he's doing now but for two years and he sucked more." Zexion crinkled his nose in disgust at the idea making Roxas laugh.

Suddenly the lights dimmed and the pink haired male from the previous week appeared on stage. "Good evening everyone, we're having an acoustic session this week, first up we have Demyx."

The crowd clapped as the sandy blond took his seat on stage, adjusted his guitar and grinned, "thanks Marluxia," he said into the microphone as the pink haired boy disappeared backstage again.

Demyx sang two of his own songs for his silent crowd and after the last strum he shuffled on his seat, "I'd like to play one last song for you guys, this is Swing Life Away by Rise Against and I dedicate it to my boyfriend Zexion," said boy smiled gently and one person wolf whistled (probably Marluxia) "all of the homo," Demyx then said, punching his hand in the air slightly and the crowd laughed.

_"Am I loud and clear, or am I breaking up?  
Am I still your charm, or am I just bad luck?  
Are we getting closer, or are we just getting more lost?_

I'll show you mine if you show me yours first  
Let's compare scars, I'll tell you whose is worse  
Let's unwrite these pages and replace them with our own words.

We live on front porches and swing life away,  
We get by just fine here on minimum wage  
If love is a labour I'll slave till the end,  
I won't cross these streets until you hold my hand."

Once he finished the blond stood, bowed to the clapping crowd and exited the stage to be replaced by a grinning Axel. "I'm going second so the next guy can't outdo my gig again," he admitted and Sora's heart skipped a beat knowing that Riku was performing next. "I'm too lazy for my own songs tonight so I have a few covers prepared, I'll start off with Vermillion Part. 2" he said and began playing, he followed that with Mexico (following the apparent Incubus trend). "I'm dedicating a special song to Roxas tonight."

"Is _everyone_ in here a fag?" Someone voiced from the back of the room and Axel smirked.

"Probably, that might be one of the reasons you're not getting laid. That and your obvious lack of respect for other people," Axel grinned as others clapped and the unknown offender was removed from the bar and he began strumming what Roxas recognised as Paramore – The Only Exception. As Axel played Roxas' heart swelled in his chest as he stared up at his boyfriend who stared back.

Sora watched the scene and almost gagged just to snap his brother out of it but kept his mouth shut. And Roxas thought_ Sora_ was too lovey dovey? If he could see the way he was acting right now he'd have to eat his words. "Thanks everybody!" Axel grinned and left to be replaced by Riku.

Much like the silver haired boy's first gig he didn't say anything tonight, just sat down and began playing his guitar. At first it was his own songs and Sora didn't take his eyes off him, he studied his crush, memorized him again and listened to his melodic voice as it captivated the crowd. He could listen to it forever, and his sketchbook lay deprived on the table top.

Just like Demyx though Riku stopped after two songs and announced that he'd be singing one cover tonight, "this song's become pretty special recently, and I know some of you know it" he looked at Sora and the brunet's heart skipped a beat, "so please enjoy it."

If Sora could die and go to heaven he would probably relive this moment forever as Riku began playing Still, closing his eyes as he did so.

As Sora stared his heart swelled, the thought crossed his mind that he probably looked exactly how Roxas had when Axel sang to him but he didn't care, the silveret kept finding ways to make Sora fall a little bit more in love with him every time he saw him, so much so that the brunet didn't know how he'd survive without Riku in his life even though he barely knew the boy. He didn't want to imagine a life without him.

Once Riku finished the room applauded and the lights brightened again, Marluxia reappeared to thank everyone for coming and the performers finally entered the main room from backstage, the trio walking towards only one table, Demyx walking to sit with Zexion, Axel with Roxas and -to Sora's surprise and delight- Riku sat beside the brunet who smiled at him. "Great performance," Sora praised the silver haired boy who smiled.

"Thank you, did you like my cover?" he asked and Sora nodded enthusiastically.

"I loved it," he beamed.

"No way!" the quartet stopped chatting and stared at Roxas and Axel, the redhead looking smug and Roxas excited.

"Yep, come with me," he said and pulled the blond up by his hand.

"Wait, Sora you've gotta come too, there's an artist at the university I've been meaning to show you on the internet for months, Axel said she's here tonight," and Roxas wrenched his twin from his seat, the brunet protesting vehemently as he reached for his sketchbook but his efforts were futile, Roxas was far too strong for his own good and Sora could only follow his brother.

********

"She was awesome right?" Roxas asked the brunet with a wide grin once they left the girl's table and though Sora was a nervous wreck from being apart from his sketchbook he nodded. "Oh stop it, your book will be fine," the blond scolded but Sora only sighed, parting from Roxas and Axel -who decided to get something to drink- to walk back to the table. Once there he found Demyx and Zexion absorbed in each other and Riku sitting patiently, he smiled as Sora approached and the brunet returned the gesture, looking down at his sketchbook which was in exactly the same place it had been when he left and he clutched it to his chest with a relieved sigh as he sat down.

"I guess you don't like leaving your book anywhere?" Riku asked with a gentle laugh but Sora didn't reply feeling slightly embarrassed. "Don't worry; I'm the same with my guitar."

"Yeah but do you treat your guitar like the Holy Grail? Because Sora does with his books," Demyx chimed in and Sora scowled at the blond.

"Hey Sora, I'm giving Axel a lift back to his place, are you coming with us or are you walking back?" Roxas asked and Sora glanced out of the window, the sun had only begun to set and the walk home wasn't long.

"I'll walk," the brunet answered and his brother shrugged.

"Alright, see you guys later," he said to the quartet.

"Say hi to Kairi for me!" Sora called, Axel waving from behind his boyfriend as they left.

"Well, at least he can't punch me in the face tonight," Sora mumbled and Riku laughed. "I think I'll leave now anyway, I just didn't want to be stuck with those two on the ride home," he admitted and collected his badge laden satchel and his sketchbook. "I guess I'll see you guys later."

"See you Sora."

"Bye," Demyx and Zexion said as the brunet stood, but instead of saying goodbye Riku stood with him.

"I'll walk you home," he said, taking Sora by surprise and making the brunet blush.

"Oh, t-that's ok, I wouldn't want you to walk all the way to my place just to walk back to yours," he stuttered, suddenly unable to keep his composure.

Riku shrugged, "you said you live near the park and I'll be walking that way anyway, it's fine really," he replied and before Sora could protest more he was interrupted by Demyx.

"Yeah Sora, you're an easy target for creeps and pedos, let Riku walk you home," he smirked mischievously and the brunet could barely believe his friend had even said that.

"Alright," he finally said –somewhat shakily- and Riku smiled, leaving the bar with his guitar slung over his shoulder and Sora by his side.

********

Sora found the walk suffocating at first, they were both mostly silent and the brunet's mind raced as he tried to think of something to talk about. Should he ask Riku about university? The things he liked? Hobbies, TV shows, books? He had no idea and it started to give him a headache, fortunately for Sora Riku saved the day (once again) and started his own chatter, "so Sora, what kind of things do you draw?" he asked, drawing the brunet out of his train of thought.

"Oh, a bit of everything, mainly portraits though, I like drawing people," Sora smiled.

"Maybe you can draw me sometime," Riku replied with his own grin and Sora blushed and gripped his book harder, he wouldn't tell Riku he'd already filled one sketchbook with the boy's face. "So you're a painter, Roxas is a writer, what about your older brother?"

"Cloud?" Sora asked, "he's studying mechanics at University, though it baffles all of us how he's still passing, even my parents don't understand it."

Riku laughed, "I bet he looks just like you," he smiled but Sora shook his head.

"Nope, blue eyes and blonde hair just like the rest of my family. I'm the odd one out," Sora laughed but it seemed forced and made Riku frown, "Cloud used to make me and Roxas cry when we were kids by saying I was adopted."

"Roxas used to cry too?"

"Yeah, we've always been close, it's probably a twin thing, but Roxas would cry more than I did." Sora laughed. "What about you, do you have any brothers or sisters?"

Riku shook his head, "no, at least not any biological ones. I am actually adopted; my sister Xion and I were adopted together about twelve years ago."

"Oh," Sora stuttered, unsure of what to say but Riku nudged him playfully.

"Don't look so embarrassed, I feel comfortable enough to tell you so you don't need to look so guilty," Riku laughed, a sound which reassured Sora immensely and he smiled. "Do you play any music?"

Sora laughed quite suddenly and slapped his hand over his mouth quickly out of embarrassment. "I tried playing Guitar once when I was younger, I hit the string so hard it snapped and hit Cloud across the shoulder. After that he didn't let me touch his guitar. He still has the scar and still doesn't trust me around stringed instruments."

"Well I was going to offer to teach you but I'm not sure I want to risk my life," Riku joked.

"I'll stick to my painting I think, it's safer." The pair laughed and silence fell again, but Sora felt discomfort in the air. Looking over at Riku he found the boy fiddling with his shark tooth necklace.

"So is um…" the silveret cleared his throat, "is Kairi your girlfriend?" he asked nervously and Sora gave him a slightly horrified look.

"No, Kairi's my best friend and Axel's sister." Then Sora shuddered, "you totally just creeped me out with that idea," he admitted.

"Sorry," Riku mumbled.

"By the way, what's the necklace you have? I notice you always wear it."

Riku pulled at the tired leather around his neck with the dangling tooth and smiled, "apparently my mother gave it to me before she died, I haven't always been an orphan, I had parents until I was six but they both died in a restaurant fire, my mother gave this to me the same day and I've worn it ever since. It's like a good luck charm."

"It's really beautiful," the brunet smiled and wondered for a moment why they'd stopped walking until he realised they were standing in front of his house (noting that Roxas wasn't home yet). "Thanks for walking me home."

"Well I couldn't let you get kidnapped by all those creeps now could I," Riku smirked and Sora sighed.

"I'm totally going to kill Demyx for saying that."

Silence followed and Sora stood awkwardly, unsure whether he should just open the door and go inside, he didn't really know the doorstep etiquette seeing as no one had walked him home before, in cheesy movies they usually kissed but Sora wasn't going to jump the gun that far. He was surprised to note that Riku was looking much the same as he was. "Well, I guess I'll see you around," Riku said.

"Yeah, I guess so," Sora replied, but he still didn't make any move towards the door. After another long moment he lifted his hand to the door handle.

"Do you hug? Because I totally good night hug if you do," Riku rushed out in a slightly noticeable panic which managed to make Sora giggle rather femininely, a feat which he would attempt to suffocate himself with a pillow for later.

"I wear rainbows every day, so hugging's pretty mandatory for me," Sora beamed, his heart beating rapidly in his chest while he inwardly praised himself for keeping his cool.

"Right, cool," Riku laughed and wrapped his arms nervously around Sora's shoulders, the brunet wrapping his own around Riku's waist comfortably. It only lasted a few seconds but Sora could have stayed there forever, his chin resting on Riku's shoulder, he smelled like peppermint and Sora suddenly didn't want to smell anything else.

The hug stopped abruptly however by the sound of a car horn and the appearance of headlights. Riku jumped back suddenly and they both looked over to see Roxas' car pull into the drive. "Right, I'll see you later Sora," Riku rushed out and started towards the street.

"Bye Riku," Sora chuckled and watched the boy walk away, sending a short wave to Roxas as the blond got out of the car with a smug look plastered on his face as he approached his twin brother.

"I saw that," he sang and the brunet rolled his eyes, unfazed by Roxas' teasing.

"You took your time getting home, did something distract you?" Sora teased back but neither of them was in the bickering mood, both silently agreeing that the night had gone pretty well indeed.

* * *

**A/N: Riku's a goodnight hugger. x3**

**I hope you guys liked it!**

**Kit out.~**


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